EVIDENCE POINTS: Teens are looking to AI for information and answers, two surveys show

Two new surveys, both released this month, show how high school and college students are embracing artificial intelligence. There are some inconsistencies and many unanswered questions, but what stands out is how much teenagers are turning to AI for information and to ask questions, not just to do homework for them. And they are using it for personal reasons as well as for school. Another major advantage is that there are different patterns by race and ethnicity with black, Hispanic, and Asian American students often using AI more quickly than white students.

The first report, released June 3, was conducted by three nonprofit organizations, Hopelab, Common Sense Media, and the Center for Digital Flourishing at the Harvard School of Education. These organizations surveyed 1,274 teens and young adults ages 14-22 across the U.S. from October to November 2023. In that time, only half of teens and young adults said they had ever used AI, with only 4 percent having they used it every day or almost every day. .

Emily Weinstein, executive director for the Center for Digital Flourishing, a research center that investigates how young people are interacting with technology, said more teenagers are “definitely” using AI now that these tools are embedded in more apps and websites. , such as Google Search. . Last October and November, when this survey was conducted, teens typically had to take the initiative to navigate to an AI site and create an account. One exception was Snapchat, a social media app that had already added an AI-powered chatbot for its users.

More than half of early adopters said they had used AI for information retrieval and brainstorming, the first and second most popular uses. This survey did not ask teenagers if they were using AI for cheating, such as prompting ChatGPT to write their letters for them. However, among the half of respondents who were already using AI, less than half – 46 percent – ​​said they were using it to help with school work. The fourth most common use was for generating photographs.

The survey also asked teenagers several open-ended questions. Some teenagers told researchers they are asking AI private questions they were too embarrassed to ask their parents or friends. “Teenagers tell us I have questions that are easier to ask robots than people,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein wants to know more about the quality and accuracy of the responses AI is giving to teens, especially those with mental health issues, and how privacy is protected when students share personal information with chatbots.

The second report, released June 11, was conducted by Impact Research and commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation. In May 2024, Impact Research surveyed 1,003 teachers, 1,001 students ages 12-18, 1,003 college students, and 1,000 parents about their use and views of AI.

This survey, which was conducted six months after the Hopelab-Common Sense survey, showed how quickly use is growing. It found that 49 percent of students, ages 12-18, said they used ChatGPT at least once a week for school, up 26 percentage points from 2023. Forty-nine percent of college students also said they used ChatGPT weekly per school, but there was no comparison data from 2023.

Among 12- to 18-year-olds and college students who had used an AI chatbot for school, 56 percent said they had used it for help with essays and other writing assignments. University students were more than twice as likely as 12- to 18-year-olds to say that using AI felt like cheating, 22 percent versus 8 percent. Previous 2023 surveys of student cheating by researchers at Stanford University found no increase in cheating with ChatGPT and other AI-generated tools. But as students use more AI, students’ understanding of what constitutes cheating may also be evolving.

More than 60 percent of college students who used AI said they were using it to study for tests and quizzes. Half of the college students who used AI said they were using it to deepen their knowledge of the subject, perhaps as if it were an online encyclopedia. There was no indication from this survey whether students were checking the accuracy of the information.

Both surveys noted differences by race and ethnicity. The first Hopelab-Common Sense survey found that 7 percent of black students, ages 14-22, used AI daily, compared to 5 percent of Hispanic students and 3 percent of white students. In the open-ended questions, a black teenage girl wrote that, with AI, “we can change who we are and become someone else we want to be.”

The Walton Foundation survey found that Hispanic and Asian American students were sometimes more likely to use AI than white and black students, especially for personal purposes.

These are all early pictures that will likely continue to change. OpenAI is expected to become part of the Apple universe in the fall, including its iPhones, computers and iPads. “These numbers are going to go up, and they’re going to go up very quickly,” Weinstein said. “Imagine if we could go back 15 years to a time when the use of social media was just beginning with adolescence. This feels like an opportunity for adults to pay attention.”

This story about ChatGPT in education was written by Jill Barshay and produced by The Hechinger Report, an independent nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Register Per Test points and others Hechinger Bulletins.

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